Cao Dai Cathedral

The Tay Ninh or Cao Dai Cathedral is around 5km southeastern from Tay Ninh town. This is a complex of religious works and also the Holy Land of Caodaism.

Caodaism (Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do or Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty) is a syncretic religion that had its beginnings in Vietnam, then part of French Indo-China, in the 1920s. Its founder, Ngo Minh Chieu (or Ngo Van Chieu), was a French civil servant and was also a mystic who was well-versed in western and eastern religions. In 1919 he began receiving revelations about the truth of religions from God (Caodai) that told him to combine the teachings of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam and other religions into one religion to promote peace. In 1926 he revealed his séances to the public as a new belief system. It soon became quite popular.

There are a number of important figures in the Cao Dai pantheon. The major saints are Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, the 19th century French writer Victor Hugo and the 16th century Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem. Lesser dignitaries who have manifested themselves in séances include notables such as Joan of Arc, Descartes, V. I. Lenin, William Shakespeare, and Winston Churchill. The organizational structure roughly follows that of the Roman Catholic Church with a pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. There are several million practitioners in (mostly southern) Vietnam and perhaps over a thousand temples, mostly in the Mekong Delta.

The Cao Dai Cathedral or the Great Temple - Holy See, is the center of the sect. It was constructed between 1933 and 1955.

The Great Temple is 140m long and 40m wide. It has 4 towers each with a different name: Tam Dai, Hiep Thien Dai, Cuu Trung Dai, and Bat Quai Dai. The interior of the temple consists of a colonnaded hall and a sanctuary. The 2 rows of columns are decorated with dragons and are coated in white, red, and blue paint. The domed ceiling is divided into 9 parts similar to a night sky full of stars and symbolizing heaven. Under the dome is a giant star-speckled blue globe on which is painted the Divine Eye, the official symbol of Caodaism.

Some pictures of the cathedral from Asian Historical Architecture:



Entry sign into the compound of the Cao Dai Great Temple.







View of the temple.







Closer view of the temple.







Front entry to the temple.







View of right side of temple.








Window with 'divine eye' (in a cosmic field), the official symbol of the religion.








Steps near right rear tower.







Lion-like animal along stair.







View from rear of temple.







View of 'left' side of building, showing multi-tiered roof, central and front towers.








A few of the outbuildings.
















Close-up of entry sign: women enter on the left, men on the right under the two towers.







Sign depicting the 'Three Saints' of Caodaism, Sun Yat-sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyen Binh Khiem.








A painting at the entry depicting the 'Third Alliance Between God and Man' with Sun Yat-sen to the left,

Victor Hugo and the Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem.







View of the inside of the temple showing the various levels reflecting the nine steps to heaven.








Dragon pillars.







View toward rear of temple.







View toward rear with male pulpit to left of slide and female pulpit to right.








Three divines at rear of temple standing on lotus flowers with a seven headed serpents:

Their Holinesses (from left) Thuong Pham, Ho Phap and Thuong Sanh.









View toward front and Inner Sanctuary.







Symbols on ceiling representing the many instruments of communication that have connected

earth and heaven across the millennia.








Pediment fronting blue curtain that defines Inner Sanctuary. With representations of the Divine Agents
, including Sakyamuni Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and Jesus Christ.







Inner Sanctuary with its twelve steps. On a large octagonal base rests

the all-seeing and all-knowing Divine Eye, the symbol of Cao Dai or Supreme Spirit.








Altar in Inner Sanctuary.







Three of the eight dragon pillars enclosing the Inner Sanctuary.







Detail of one of the dragon pillars in front of symbolic red curtain
which, with the blue and yellow curtains divides the Inner Sanctuary from the rest of the temple.